YOUR DAY WITH BAI

There we were. My best friend and I stood in a bicycle shop soaking wet, freezing cold, and making connections with Alaskan locals. I landed a trip to Anchorage that gave a 24-hour layover. With this being one of the places I dreamed of visiting, I knew I didn’t want to experience it alone. I walked into Lakin’s room and asked what she was doing tomorrow. She said work but she could get out of it if she needed to, and in my opinion, she needed to. Full of excitement and spontaneity, we packed our bags with sweaters and snow boots. Yes, I know in August it’s not snowing in Alaska, but we planned to see as much nature in that day as possible. Now the way flight attendant benefits work is if I have someone as my listed companion, they get to fly for free. However, nothing in this life is free. That “free” ticket comes with the small price of sitting standby. Because the flight was so long, if she didn’t get on this one there would be no real point of her getting on the next one. So, I prayed. And by the grace of God, despite the busy summer flying out of EWR, she made it on the first flight with ease. She was also the very last person on the plane sitting in the very last available seat on the way home. I think the universe knew her and I needed that escape. We arrived sometime in the evening and managed to go out for dinner and drinks with my entire crew. The beer flights, halibut, and laughs were all that we needed and more to start off a 24-hour period that we will never forget. After making our way to the hotel, we found ourselves in awe that this is where we were. Yes, I went to Geneva, Switzerland, but I can promise you any country (including your own) with as beautiful views as Alaska, plus your best friend, outdoes anything else. The next day we woke up early and got straight to it. Put on every layer of clothing packed up and headed out to the downtown area. Stumbling across a café, we had the best cinnamon roll on the planet along with delicious hot coffee named after our favorite candy bars. Right next door just happened to be the bike shop we heard the rest of my crew raging about. We contemplated a tandem bicycle to rent but concluded that whoever was in front would be exhausted from dragging the other around. We also saw an electric bike with a child carrier on the back that put our two classic riders to shame. While getting ready to begin our journey, the local Alaskan boy played twenty questions with us about why we were there, why for only such a short amount of time, and sang praises at the freedom this job gave my friends and I. He said he’d never left Alaska a day in his life, and the whole ride I wondered if I would either. Lakin and I headed down a steep hill we failed to realize we’d have to make our way back up, but even with the misting rain and freezing cold weather, we had an amazing time. Watching mallards dive headfirst in the water hunting for their catch of the day while the fisherman in knee-high boots were doing the same was a breathtaking moment. I’m not sure about you, but watching people and animals truthfully enjoy the simplicities of life without a worry in the world does something inside of me. In my opinion, it’s almost the same way if you’re having a shit day and drive past a graveyard. It makes me gracious. For the lives lived long before our time as well as the generations coming that we may never meet. Each of us being on essentially the same journey as the people in our history books brings me peace. Every last one of us will start and end our lives in very different ways, but how we decide to spend our days in between is what makes the ending count just as much as the beginning. I’ve learned something I believe in profoundly that I so desperately wish I could instill in 15-year-old me’s head. Failure is just as much needed as freedom. There have been so many moments in my life where I’ve made a poor decision and immediately rush to any solution to fix it NOW. Who wants to wait around for how their failures unfold? Not many. You want to get out of the problem and make your life “perfect” again as soon as you can. But that’s not the way life is designed. Life is meant to teach you lessons that will never fade. Life is meant to show you what is and isn’t destined for you. Life is meant to be lived. None of these things are possible without failure. As soon as you accept your mistakes and flaws, you’ll find yourself staring at glaciers with metaphorical eyes of just how small your problems compare to the rest of this universe. So, there we were. My best friend and I standing in a bicycle shop soaking wet, freezing cold, and gracious to experience every single second of this life.